On the last day of the Olympics in Cortina, Team Hasselborg became Olympic champions again.
After the final victory over Switzerland, a group hug broke out and several small children joined the celebration on the ice.
The players now talk about the conscious strategy of trying to have children at the same time to maximize their investment in the lead-up to the Olympics.
"To be able to continue for a long time as a woman and an athlete, you need to open up to the possibility of focusing on your private life and family planning. We wanted to make sure that we could all follow our dreams and still be able to play curling. It was definitely something that was communicated with the team and it was fantastic that we managed to fit it in together," says Agnes Knochenhauer.
“We are completely crazy”
Knochenhauer, skip Anna Hasselborg and Sara McManus are the three players on the team who had children during the long build-up to the Olympics. The children were born in 2023 and 2024. However, deliberately planning a period of small children in the middle of an Olympic cycle was not entirely without risk. The team expected a sporting slump.
"We planned for a dip in terms of play and motivation. The road ahead was also about peaking form for this year. You never know how things will turn out. That's what I'm most proud of about this gold, that all these plans came together. We realize that we're completely crazy to have set these goals, but it worked out," says Anna Hasselborg.
“Totally backed”
The decision to plan for children together emerged after the bronze medal in the 2022 Beijing Olympics. At that time, it was clear that several on the team wanted to have more children, and instead of letting chance rule, they chose openness in their plans.
"We can be open that we have done it together with SOK (Swedish Olympic Committee) and our association. We made a decision after the 2022 Olympics that we wanted to continue, but that we needed to open up to the possibility of scaling back the competition in order to have children. We were fully supported in that. Our managers have trusted us and our process," says Knochenhauer.
“The other side of the coin”
Despite the successful venture both privately and on the ice, the players admit that the decisions have been tough.
"This is the life we have chosen to live. Our children know no other life than having mothers who are away. It is really tough to be away from your children when you go away and compete. There is the physical loss, but also the fact that you leave your partner at home taking care of everything. That is definitely the other side of the coin, but we have had incredibly loving support from our partners who have unconditionally let us do this," says Anna Hasselborg.
Players: Anna Hasselborg, Sara McManus, Agnes Knochenhauer, Sofia Scharback (formerly Mabergs), Johanna Heldin (reserve).
Coach: Kristian Lindstrom.
National team captain: Fredrik Lindberg.
Olympic achievements: Gold in Pyeongchang 2018, gold in Cortina 2026, bronze in Beijing 2022.
Other championship medals: World Championship silver (2018 and 2019), European Championship gold (2018, 2019 and 2025), European Championship silver (2016, 2017, 2021 and 2024).
